Dr. Bruce Davidson, a board-certified internal medicine and pulmonary physician, has argued publicly that President Donald Trump, 80, may have suffered a stroke — most likely on the left side of the brain, and probably sometime in 2025.

Davidson, a professor at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, has not personally examined the president. He built the theory entirely from publicly available video and disclosed medical details.

Administration officials have flatly rejected the stroke theory. The physicians who treat Trump have likewise confirmed no such event. No member of that team has corroborated Davidson’s account, and his claims remain unverified by anyone with direct access to the president. Video alone cannot establish a diagnosis.

What Davidson Points To

Among the signs Davidson cited were a shuffling walk, garbled speech that later got better, weakness on the right side and bouts of daytime sleepiness. The physician also drew attention to the 325 mg daily aspirin dose Trump has disclosed, pointing out that doctors typically recommend such a regimen to prevent a recurrent stroke rather than as a first-line preventive measure.

He laid out the argument first on the podcasts “The Court of History” and “The Daily Beast Podcast,” and in an opinion piece.

Sidney Blumenthal, a former Clinton aide and a co-host of the podcast that surfaced Davidson’s claims, told Raw Story: “The simple way to clear all this up is to release all of Trump’s medical records including his MRI.” Trump recently told reporters he had an MRI, then said it was actually a CT scan.

John Paul Garrison, a Georgia-based clinical and forensic psychologist, reviewed footage of Trump’s Aug. 28, 2026, address at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in which his body appeared to jerk and his arms moved in quick succession. Garrison said the movements were consistent with a possible focal aware seizure, also known as a partial seizure.

Drowsiness on Camera

Cameras filmed Trump with his eyes closed and his head tilted forward on Monday, Sept. 28, at an Oval Office event announcing Mesabi Metallics’ plans for a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, while Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were speaking.

Comparable clips made the rounds two days afterward, this time from an Oval Office announcement about a roughly $54 billion South Korean investment in an Alaska natural gas export project. Trump closed his eyes for longer stretches as Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy praised him.

Anyone reviewing the full White House livestream would see Trump reopening his eyes again and again, answering questions and staying engaged. Each closed-eye moment lasted only a few seconds, and officials at the White House have repeatedly denied that such moments mean he is asleep or unwell.

A Cabinet meeting in December 2025 was one occasion when Trump appeared to doze; the inaugural Board of Peace gathering in February was another, as were several Oval Office events this year. One tally by early September counted at least 22 such occasions. Boring Cabinet meetings, Trump has suggested, are the reason he closes his eyes during them.

Photographs of Trump at the Pentagon ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, Sept. 11, showed his face drooping on the right side and, at times, appearing to fall asleep as the names of the 184 Pentagon victims were read. The images renewed stroke speculation online.

Questions About His Gait

Aide Margo Martin posted a video following a White House luncheon with tech executives on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and it showed the president standing with his left knee bending inward. Viewers also said he appeared to drag his right leg as he walked, and critics have linked that footage to the right-sided weakness Davidson described.

Footage from the launch of America.gov in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 29, appeared to show Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reaching toward Trump as the president lowered himself into his seat before signing an executive order. A report on the footage noted that it “does not establish why Mr Oz reached out or whether Mr Trump was suffering from any medical problem.”

Video of him limping at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve spread widely online earlier this year, as did footage showing unexplained outlines beneath his trouser legs.

Chronic venous insufficiency is the one confirmed condition affecting Trump’s legs, and the White House disclosed it in July 2025 after visible swelling in his lower legs. Trump’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said after a May 2026 exam that the president remains in excellent health.

Newsom Needles the President

A brief Los Angeles visit gave California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime Democratic antagonist, an opening to needle Trump over his health. His press office posted a 14-second clip on X on the morning of Wednesday, August 5, showing Trump fielding reporters’ questions on the tarmac, and said the trip was “a total snoozer,” adding that Trump displayed “Very low energy. No speech. He could barely take a question on the tarmac.”

The governor, in the words of White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, is the worst and possibly the dumbest chief executive in the country. Ingle said Trump’s sharpness, energy and accessibility stand in stark contrast to the previous administration, and he accused Democrats of having covered up former President Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline while now targeting Trump. The White House has consistently insisted Trump is in good health.

More than 30 doctors signed a letter earlier this year warning of Trump’s “rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous decline.” The letter said he is “mentally unfit” and must be removed from office “with the greatest urgency.”

Questions about Trump’s condition are not new. He has repeatedly faced scrutiny over chronically bruised hands, swollen ankles, public bouts of drowsiness and occasional mental flubs. Trump, the oldest sitting president in American history, is in his second term, and his health has become an inescapable subplot of it.

Two narratives now compete: one of a president slowed by age and possible illness; the other of a vigorous leader whose critics, in the administration’s telling, are recycling a playbook once used to shield a Democratic incumbent.